Hjörtur Smárason: African Cities take the lead in Developing the Future City

The Future City of Africa, a new conference in Nairobi, June  2016, explores the potential of African cities to rethink the city concept and take the lead globally in designing the future city.

UN Habitat predicts that 700 million people will be moving into the African cities in the next 35 years. That means an entire New York City has to be built every six months until 2050. Sounds like a huge challenge, but it is also a unique opportunity to rethink the city concept and create something different and unparalleled. It gives Africa dual opportunities annually to build a New York sized city that is smarter, more efficient and more sustainable than the original New York.

Can African cities leapfrog the cities of the 20th century?

Dr. Evans Kidero, Governor of Nairobi will host The Future City of Africa in his city in June, a conference on sustainable urban development. The aim of this high-end conference is to explore the opportunities Africa has, not only to catch up with European cities, but to leapfrog the outdated infrastructure of the 20th century city and take the lead in designing the smart, sustainable future city. The Future City of Africa conference will bring together international experts on city development with the brightest minds of Africa.

The conference is run in cooperation with Phønix, the international place branding panel whose members have broad experience from city development and branding strategies for many of the most prosperous cities of the world.

Attracting investors from Silicon Valley to Europe

Four themes will be explored at the conference. Smart Cities and Innovation will focus on the impact of the Internet of Things, big data and mobile technologies on the development of the future city. Communities and Citizen Engagement will look at inclusive growth and the importance of seeing the people of the slums as a resource and not as a burden. Urban Planning, Architecture and Sustainable Development will look at the effect of climate changes and the role of architecture and urban planning to design sustainable urban environments. Finally, Infrastructure and Business Models of the Future will focus on the disruption of the utility market, micro production of sustainable energy and the impact of the sharing economy on the business models of the future. Additionally the 50 most promising African startups within city development will be invited to exhibit at the conference. Investors from across Europe, Silicon Valley, andAfrica, will attend the conference and meet up with the brightest African entrepreneurs to see how they will disrupt the future city.

The Mayors play a key role

The Mayors of Africa’s major cities are invited to a Mayors Summit. The summit will present leading experts to discuss strategies for African cities on how to tackle some of their most urgent challenges in an effective way and take the lead as the smart, sustainable cities of the future.

The conference will be held June 9th-11th 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya. Further information about the conference, tickets, sponsorships and exhibiting can be found on www.fcafrica.org.

Quotes:

Hjörtur Smárason, conference organiser and one of the founders of Phønix, the international place branding panel:

”When people outside of Africa hear about Africa they picture mainly two things; beautiful exotic animals, and misery. War, poverty and diseases is what people see on the news and in marketing material from relief organisations. The third Africa is still absent from the world’s perception, and that is the rising urban Africa. A dynamic, prosperous continent driven by creativity, entrepreneurship and clever use of technology. There is a great opportunity for African cities to make a name for themselves as rising powercities on a global scale. We are really excited to work with Governor Kidero and the people of Nairobi, which is clearly one of the leading cities in Africa, especially when it comes to smart city technologies. Nairobi has great potential to shape the future of city development.”

”The lack of infrastructure may be Africa’s greatest assets. It has forced entrepreneurs to think in different solutions and use the limited resources they have – primarily the mobile phone. Africa has already taken the lead when it comes to mobile banking and mobile health and implemented those solutions faster than anywhere else. The African cities have the opportunity to follow this trend as they build the future city, based on the latest technology in smart cities and sustainable urban development. Not only that, but many of them will be invented by streetkids in a small coworking space in a forgotten part of the city. The future is coming and it will surprise many where it is coming from.”

7 signs Africa is taking the lead:

• 700 million people will be moving into African cities in the next 35 years – that means an entire New York City has to be built every six months until 2050

• Nine out of the 20 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa

• African startups raised USD 187.5 million last year

• African venture capital companies reported up to 330% growth last year

• Africa is home to one billion people and 200 million of these are aged 15-24

• Africa has the fastest growing middle class in the world

• Smartphone usage is at a tipping point, expected to reach 400 million users in 2020.

Get registered for this marvellous event here - 10% discount for Africa Business Communities-members:

https://www.ics-online.com/EI/getdemo.ei?id=551&s=_5LS10AU0V

www.fcafrica.org